As the maturity date for General Motors’ Class E contingent notes approaches, the GM treasury staff must estimate the potential impact of the liability on corporate cash flows. The student is asked to value the contingent notes and express the value in terms of the cash flows GM might have to pay. The primary objective of the case is for students to draw the parallel between the determinants of value for exchange-traded options and for such nontraded options as the contingent notes.

The head of Performance and Rewards at Tata Motors Limited (TML) was reviewing the reports before him and deliberating their implications. The company had just embarked on a major initiative to identify employees’ concerns and the results were not good. Employees across all levels, including senior leadership, were unclear about their compensation. The employees were not the only ones who were puzzled; even the recruitment team at TML had no clear basis for determining and comparing the salaries of new recruits. It was obvious that something needed to be done. Should it be a major restructuring of the compensation or could the matter be solved by simply educating the employees? Should the company remove some of the components from its compensation structure and make it simpler? If so, which components could be dropped and which should be retained?

General Motors Defense, a division of General Motors, one of the world’s largest automobile manufacturers, designs and manufactures light armored vehicles. The company is approached by General Dynamics to pursue jointly the U.S. Army’s Brigade Combat Team program. However, General Dynamics made it clear that it would also submit a bid on its own. Contrary to past practices, the chief of staff of the U.S. Army planned to award the multibillion dollar contract within only 11 months. The executive director of General Motors Defense has to decide whether the company should bid-it-alone or submit a joint venture bid with General Dynamics.

Case Name : Tesla Motors: Burning Up the Road to Market Domination or Doom

Authors : Dante Pirouz, Karam Putros

Source : Ivey Publishing

Case ID : W13610

Discipline : Entrepreneurship

Case Length : 10 pages

Solution Sample availability : YES

Plagiarism : NO (100% Original work)

Description for case is given below :

Ten years after its founding, California-based Tesla Motors is close to becoming one of the world’s premier luxury car manufacturers. Its innovative design – using carbon fibre and aluminum rather than steel to construct body and parts – and technology – lithium ion battery packs rather than gasoline for power and a simple powertrain to provide maximum acceleration – make its models treasured options for eco-friendly and tech-savvy consumers as well as wealthy professionals. Relying almost entirely on word-of-mouth promotion through social media, the company sells its cars through factory stores in upscale malls rather than through dealerships and has built service centres to provide free battery charging. However, just as it is expanding into Europe and Asia and is contemplating buying its own factory to secure its battery supply, three of its cars have burst into flames following collisions, although no one has been injured. In addition, analysts claim that the company has been covering up its lack of cash flow by using non-generally accepted accounting principles for reporting its revenue. The CEO knows that the company has tremendous potential but is struggling with public relations problems arising from the crashes and questions about its financial stability and return on investment to investors.

Case Name : Eyes of Janus: Evaluating Learning and Development at Tata Motors

Authors : Debolina Dutta, Matthew J. Manimala

Source : Ivey Publishing

Case ID : W14308

Discipline : Organizational Behavior

Case Length : 13 pages

Solution Sample availability : YES

Plagiarism : NO (100% Original work)

Description for case is given below :

Tata Motors, a leading automobile manufacturer in India, pro-actively responded to the changing competitive environment and redesigned its human capital strategy. As part of the new strategy, huge investments were made in revamping the learning and development function for Tata Motors employees. Multiple initiatives were launched to promote a learning culture, which also earned the company international recognition in the learning and development community. The challenge for Tata Motors is to evaluate the effectiveness of these initiatives in terms of their relative advantages and their ability to develop a learning culture in the organization. Effectively capturing and measuring these parameters is crucial for justifying future investments in learning and development.

General Motors (GM) had a history of bold strategies in a wide variety of areas, including the creation of Saturn, the development of global operations, and the formation of strategic alliances with Fiat, SAIC, and Daewoo. Nonmarket strategies included pursuing government financial assistance, coping with new environmental regulations, and agreeing to very expensive health care and pension schemes. Meanwhile, GM had failed to create strategies to compete effectively with foreign automakers. By 2005, many of GM’s strategic decisions seemed to have been inappropriate. Some that were undertaken for short-term gain had disastrous long-term consequences, and GM performed poorly compared with other global automakers. Many strategies had seemed disconnected, lacking an overall vision or purpose: GM was facing a serious crisis. In 2005-2006, GM introduced several new strategies. Whether these strategies could achieve sustainable profitability, or whether they would also bring undesirable consequences, was a subject of importance to employees, shareholders, and governments throughout the world.

Case Name : The Acquisition and Restructuring of Kia Motors by Hyundai Motors

Authors : Seungwha (Andy) Chung, Sunju Park

Source : Ivey Publishing

Case ID : 909M15

Discipline : General Management

Case Length : 16 pages

Solution Sample availability : YES

Plagiarism : NO (100% Original work)

Description for case is given below :

In recent years, greater competition and diminished profits, due to domestic and global oversupplies as well as higher development costs, have led the automobile industry to engage in domestic and international mergers and strategic collaboration. This case examines one of the largest mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the Korean automobile market in recent years: the acquisition of Kia Motors (Kia) by Hyundai Motors (Hyundai). The case describes the background conditions of the acquisition, the integration processes after the acquisition, and the requisites for Kia Motors to normalize management within a short time. Hyundai, in acquiring Kia, enhanced its competitive power in both domestic and global markets, achieving economies of scale and scope and strengthening its global market basis. That said, Hyundai/Kia faced several pressing challenges, among them the cooperation of Renault and Samsung Motors, the unclear domestic treatment of Daewoo Motors, and M&As taking place among top motor companies worldwide. This case study asks students to analyze the process of post-acquisition restructuring and the resulting synergy effects, inviting them to think through the strategies by which Hyundai/Kia may thrive in the global automobile market. Further, it illustrates both the current state of the domestic Korean automobile industry and recent trends in the global automobile market.